Comments on: Earthworms + black soldier fly larvae = composting²

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 15:08:01 +0000

My corn cob (I ate the kernels) has been in a glass of water for about a week now. No sign of any sort of larvae yet. Strangely enough, there’s no smell.

By: Brian Travis

Brian Travis — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 17:57:12 +0000

You probably have a good native population there, Chris, and can attract them yourself without buying a starter culture. Unharvested larvae will either find a way to crawl off on their own, pupate in the bin, or just die off. Unless you are deliberately seeking to harvest them, none of the above represents a problem.

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 10:41:45 +0000

Hi! I’m searching for a supplier for black soldier flies in the Philippines. Know of anyone?

What happens if you don’t harvest the mature larvae? Is that okay? They’ll probably just die off, right?

By: Brian Travis

Brian Travis — Sun, 26 Dec 2010 23:43:17 +0000

Laura, what kind of worms are you raising there in Argentina?

I do raise a colony of eisenia foetida in BSF residue mixed with shredded newspaper and cardboard. I do not feed any food to the worm bin other than pre-digested BSF residue. The worms seem to love it and are thriving. I process all the “typicall” worms foods through my BSF bins before feeding the worms.

Since you evidently have a native population of Black Soldier Flies there, you might want to consider feeding the input you would normally feed to your worms to the BSF instead. Then later on, harvest the residue from the BSF bin to feed to the worms. Though you will doubtless have some BSF still appear in your worm bin, by not feeding the worm bin fresh food they will not be as dense as they might otherwise be and will be less likely to generate conditions unfavorable to your worms.

Though I only feed “clean” BSF residue to my worms, I still see a number of BSF larvae in the worm bin. But the fact I am adding no fresh food keeps the BSF population in check and allows the worms to peacefully co-exist.

Good luck with your worms! (And your BSF!)

By: laura

laura — Sun, 26 Dec 2010 17:34:50 +0000

Hi, I am glad I found this post!
Yesterday, after a week of not supervising my compost/vermiculture bin, I checked it to see how the worms were doing and if there were any changes in population size, temperature, etc.
To my surprise, the earthworms were gone. Gone!
I was told this could happen, that if they didn’t like the conditions, they would just move on to a better suited location. Thing is, it happened so fast! I’ve had them for 2 months and they were doing fine, now all of a sudden they are nowhere to be found, and instead I have an overpopulation of overexcited larvae, eating everything that comes across their path… (after some research I found that they were BSF larvae)
I got a bit desperate, but now that I read that these guys are actually used for composting, well, I feel more relieved!
And it all happened by chance! I never introduced the larvae or the fly… I guess they found their way to invade the box? or maybe there were some eggs on fruit or vegetables I added to the box?
Anyway, excuse my ignorance… I am a first-timer to vermiculture/composting, and I am not so used to having hyperactive creeters in my balcony!

Now, I’d like to ask a question… should I try and reintroduce earthworms to the compost bin? should I add anything to the compost in order to make it more earthworm friendly?

Thank you and good luck!
Laura (Argentina)

By: Foxfire

Foxfire — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 07:28:45 +0000

Not having time to read all the posts to present, but having read many, let me say this. With over 20 years experience and teaching on worms, my team and I have a pretty good understanding of what can and cannot be done with earth worms. I have noticed some truths and some half truths and some false info on some of the posts, so let me try to clarify some of what I have read. Perhaps this will help in your search for mixing the worms with the BSF.
1. It makes a big difference as to the type of worm that you use in composting. If you use night crawlers for instance, they are slow to reproduce and they do eat the produce of all types that you put into the compost bin including meats.
If you use the preferred Red Wigglers, of the which we sell, they reproduce fast and consume their body weight in food each day. They do NOT however eat the material you put into the compost bin, but rather they eat the bacteria that develops on the composting material. Just this process alone will speed up the composting process by some 3 times that of just letting things rot.
All pathogens will be destroyed in the worms gut as well as heavy metals.
Because the red wigglers eat a different food source than the BSF, they can co-habitate. The two challenges do arise and that is the temp. control and the harvesting.
This would be a work through project to see what could actually work. Perhaps letting the worms exist in a bin below the BSF unit and let them process some of the sludge, or simply clean out the unit once a month. Keeping the plastic out of direct sunlight would help keep the heat down.
A wooden bin would solve the heat problem and line the outside rim with pvc pipe with about 1/4 of a slit cut length ways to let the grubs crawl into as they reach the top of the bin and from there they enter a down spout exit hole.
Lots available here for trial and error but if you have any questions about the little red wigglers, drop me a line. I’ll be glad to assist where I can.

By: Jerry

Jerry — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 03:13:20 +0000

Bill, that’s great to hear.

I’m not sure but I think you might be my first customer to establish a reproducing BSF colony in an area with no native BSF. I really doubt they’re found in Buffalo. I recommend that you protect as many larvae through maturity and pupation so you have the maximum number of mating adults to build up your colony. I’ll be glad to advise you this fall about getting ready for winter if you like, although since I live near Florida I don’t have experience with BSF in very cold conditions. We could both learn a lot from your experience.

By: Bill

Bill — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 19:36:25 +0000

Hi Jerry, Just a note to let you know how things are going here in Buffalo, NY. Your starter kit was received very quickly and arrived in excellent condition. The contents were placed in their new home, ver. 1 bucket, as per your instructions. It has been about a month and a half and things are going better than expected. I had to learn about moisture control and feeding. I am happy to say that the BSF have left, mated, returned and I now have new larvae. Thanks to all on this blog, and especially you, for all the information that has been provided.
Now the challenge of keeping them alive over the winter.
Thanks again, Bill in Buffalo, NY

By: Jerry

Jerry — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 14:14:41 +0000

Elfrieda,

I’m having a hard time reconciling your email address “greenelf” with your pouring boiling water over harmless and greatly beneficial creatures that are fulfilling a crucial role in nature. What is “gross” is your attitude and behavior. If you educate yourself about BSF, an integral part of your environment, you might learn how to keep them out of your worm bins and you might also lose some of the close-mindedness that you’ve displayed here.

By: Elfrieda Tullar

Elfrieda Tullar — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 13:33:50 +0000

I wish I could get rid of the BSF in my worm bins; they make everything so mushy and difficult to get out. Before it was nice, black and crumbly (good ‘black gold’). If I can’t get rid of them I am probably going to find another home for the worms and wash everything out of the bins.
Same thing happening in my compost bins. Everything turns mushy. I am starting to put cantaloupe rinds on the very top and when the BSF ‘maggots’ cover it, I pour boiling water over them as they are just taking over. Gross.